Penn Arts and Sciences Names Eugene Mele Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Physics

Eugene Mele, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has been appointed the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Physics. Mele joined the faculty in 1981, and has spent most of his academic career at Penn. A condensed matter theorist whose pioneering research has resulted in predicting the existence of materials with non-trivial topological order, Mele’s research findings have influenced the course of quantum electronic phenomena research in solids. He is the recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics from the Franklin Institute and the Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society, and his excellent teaching has been recognized by both the University’s Lindback Award and the highest Penn Arts and Sciences teaching honor, the Ira Abrams Award. Mele has served as a member of the Penn Arts and Sciences Personnel Committee, the Penn Arts and Sciences Committee on Undergraduate Academic Standing, and the Provost’s Council on Access and Academic Support.

This chair is one of ten Browne Distinguished Professorships created by the late Christopher H. Browne, C’69, former chairman of the Board of Overseers in the Penn Arts and Sciences and trustee of the University. The Browne chairs recognize faculty members who have achieved an extraordinary reputation for scholarly contributions, who have demonstrated great distinction in teaching, and who have demonstrated intellectual integrity and unquestioned commitment to free and open discussion of ideas.